FSGC in Rome for the UEFA GROW Conference on finance and human resources management

A new and important appointment with the UEFA GROW programme, UEFA’s project launched to provide support and promote the development of its member associations. Over the past few days (7-8 May) a conference was held in Rome dedicated to financial management and human resources within a football organisation. As in the most recent UEFA GROW events, a single gathering was used to explore and analyse topics common to both areas of interest, as well as more specific issues, which led the participants to split into two separate working groups.

The San Marino Football Federation was represented by Filippo Bronzetti (Treasurer), Michela Sciutti (Administration Department) and Andrea Nardoni (Administrative Coordinator). The latter followed the track focused on human resources management, while the former two – whenever the activities diverged – took part in the sessions dealing with financial matters.

The opening of the conference, entrusted to Keith Dalton, was followed by the presentation of the conference agenda by Francesc Solanellas and Brandan Murray, two experts in charge of the UEFA GROW project. The FIGC General Secretary, Marco Brunelli, as host together with Niccolò Donna from the Study and Research Division of the Italian Football Federation, presented the FIGC case study. Yesterday afternoon, the in-depth sessions continued with contributions from UEFA’s own organisation – both in the financial and HR spheres – before moving on to specific presentations by the Irish, Welsh and Danish FAs.

This morning’s programme resumed with a keynote speech by Sunil Gulati, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, followed by an open-floor discussion on stage with Debbie Hewitt (The FA) and Keith Dalton. As at any major conference, there was no shortage of debate and reflection on the present and immediate future: in this respect, there is probably no more topical subject than Artificial Intelligence, which over these days was examined in terms of its applications in finance and human resources. On this topic, three Deloitte experts took turns speaking: Angelo Di Donato and Stefano Besana, along with director Marco Lucarelli.

Denis Bastari, representing UEFA, engaged participants in a plenary session, sharing insights on the latest cycle of the HatTrick Programme, before one final split into the two different areas of interest. Those working in the financial area attended detailed presentations from the chief financial officers of the Belgian, Slovenian and Greek FAs; in the field of human resources, the floor was given to representatives of the football organisations of Lithuania, Sweden and Hungary.